International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)

Degradation of Low Density Polyethylene Due To

Successive Exposure to Acid Rain and UV Radiation
M.M. El-Tonsy
Physics Dept
Faculty of Science
Mansoura University
Al-Mansoura, Egypt

S. A. A. AlSaati
University of Babylon
Iraq

A. H. Oraby
Physics Dept
Faculty of Science AlMansoura University
35516 Egypt

Abstract: Utilization of polymer products for outdoor applications is continuously increasing. So the stability of polymers against
environmental degradation became top of interests for many researchers. The effect of environmental elements on the polymers stability
has been studied, but individually. A solution against an environmental element may conflict with a solution against other element.
Therefore current study aimed to clarify a sort of these conflicts, by successive exposure of low density polyethylene (LDPE) films to
acid rains and ultra violet (UV) radiation for different times. The used LDPE films are selected from the commercial grads which are
used for plants greenhouses, in order to use samples fully protected against environmental elements. It is found that acid rains etch PE
films, causing removal for some of the UV stabilizer additives, and hence UV radiation could attack PE films seriously causing remarked
oxidative degradation. This study includes wide comparisons between effects of acid rain only, UV irradiation only, acid rain followed
by UV irradiation and UV irradiation followed by acid rain exposure. Variations in the chemical composition, morphological structures,
thermal and mechanical properties are detected by the IR- spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and
tensile tests. A new view for the differentiation between degradations caused by acid rains and UV radiation is discussed. Lot of
experimental data are given in many coloured graphs and tables..

1. GENERAL VIEW AND OBJECTIVE

When sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into
the atmosphere, they come into contact with water where they
are chemically converted to acidic compounds of sulphates and
nitrates. These strong acids are deposited onto the earths
surface as rain, snow and fog and through dry deposition; the
name acid rain is commonly used for describing this painful
mechanism. Sulphur is released when fossil fuels are burned,
mainly for electricity production and industrial processes.
Oxides of nitrogen are released during burning of all fossil fuels
too, including gasoline and diesel fuel, where the nitrogen in
the fuel and atmosphere reacts with oxygen. Acid rain
contaminates drinking water, damages buildings, by corroding
cement, accelerates plastics degradation, and causes metals to
rust.
Of the solar wavelengths, the UV-B component is particularly
efficient in bringing about photo-damage in synthetic and
naturally occurring materials. This is particularly true of
plastics, rubber and wood used in the building and agricultural
industries. Solar radiation spectrum ranges over 290-300 nm
and it consists of just less than 10% of UV radiation but it has
sufficient energies to dissociate C-C or C-H bonds in polymer.
The free radicals produced in this way may then react freely
with the atmospheric oxygen and contribute to further
degradation of the polymer, which is called photo-oxidation.
The outdoor service life of common plastic materials is limited
by their withstanding solar ultraviolet radiation and other

www.ijsea.com

environmental conditions like the acid rain. Many researching

efforts have been carried out for evaluating the serious effects
of solar UV and acid rains individually, although both
environmental elements are acting either simultaneously or
successively. As a result, several protection solutions are
proposed against each individual element regardless the
efficiency of this protection solution in presence of the other
element. In the current work, a polymer sample is exposed to
acid rain and UV radiation in sequenced manner and the net
effects were recorded and analysed. This work aims to present
more information to increase the efficiency of polymers
protection against all environmental conditions on time. This
work tries to show how the UV radiation may restrict the
polymer protection against the acid rains attack, and vice versa.

2. INTRODUCTION
Plastics have been employed in agriculture because of their
unique properties in comparison with glass, like unbreakability, low price, transparency, flexibility and light
weight. Plastics (low density polyethylene, LDPE or
polypropylene PP) are now widely used for the construction of
plants green houses. In this case plastic films are exposed to the
most aggressive environmental conditions. The greenhouse
plastic films are attacked by the solar UV radiation along the
day time. Many days or weeks around the year, acidic rains
attack these films too. Thus the two environmental elements
acid rain and UV radiation are attacking the greenhouses plastic
films either simultaneously or successively. The successive
exposure to these environmental elements is the most dominant
case.

327

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)
The degradation processes of the various types of polymer
have specific mechanisms and depend on both the main
macromolecular chain nature, structure and on the chemical
nature of the branched groups. It is well known, for the
oxidation of polyolefins or rubber (natural and some synthetic
types), that hydro-peroxides and the peroxy radicals are
intermediates in a long kinetic chain mechanism. In the case of
the halogenated polymers the de-hydro-halogenations is the
first reaction step followed by the thermal oxidation, while for
the polyamides or cellulose the oxidation occurs by hydroperoxides within a short chain mechanism [1-7].
Two main groups of factors are causing the most polymers
degradations, which are:
1 - Chemical factors: oxygen,
polymerization catalysts, etc.

chemicals,

ozone,

peroxy radical (COO* ) is able to extract hydrogen from the

polymer chain to form hydro-peroxide and another polymer
radical (C* ), as shown down:
These hydro-peroxides are unstable and so will decompose to
form further radicals from the continued UV radiation [9].
Another product commonly associated with oxidation is the
production of carbonyl groups (C=O), the formation of which
can result in a range of new molecules. The formation of
carbonyl groups is also thought to play a key role in the chain
scission of the polymer back bone [10]. The formation of a
simple ketone group which is measurable by IR spectroscopy
with absorption at 1722 cm-1 is common. Another common
carbonyl group seen in photo-oxidised LDPE is aldehyde,
measurable by IR spectroscopy with an increased absorption at
1730 cm-1 .The formation is thought to typically result in the
scission of the polymer chain.

2 - Physical factors: light, ionizing radiation, heat, mechanical

processing, etc.
The degradation process starts by releasing a free radical either
by energetic photon or by breaking a chemical bond thermally
or chemically. The is the so called initiating the process which
is repeated several times as long as the initiator is active, as
shown in figure 1.

Figure (1): The hydrogen is separated from the polymer

chain leaving hydrogen radical (H.) and polymer chain
radical (C.).
It is also possible for the C - C bonds to be broken, figure 2:

Figure (2): Breaking the C-C bond.

but due to the energy required it is less likely to occur [8]. If the
photo-irradiation takes place and oxygen is available then
photo-oxidation reactions are able to continue as shown down:
The highly reactive polymer radical (C* ) is able to react with
oxygen resulting in the formation of a peroxy polymer radical
(COO* ). Two of the hydrogen radicals (H*) are able to react
together resulting in the release of hydrogen gas (H2). The rate
of formation of these peroxy radicals is controlled by the
propagation of oxygen into the polymer. The newly formed

www.ijsea.com

Polyethylene (PE) resins in their natural state are inherently

unstable and degrade when exposed to oxygen (air oxygen).
The degradation is similar to the rusting (or oxidation) of
untreated iron in that the polymers change colour to yellowbrown and begin to flake away until the material becomes
useless. When PE degrades, chain scission takes place. The
physical properties of the polymer deteriorate and its average
molecular weight (chain length) decreases, melt flow rate
increases and a powdery surface eventually forms. Polymer
degradation is a natural phenomenon that cannot be totally
stopped. Instead, resin producers seek to stabilize the colour
and physical properties of their polymers for a reasonable life
span, which varies depending on the end user requirements.
Auto-oxidation continues unless countermeasures are taken to
halt the process. One way to terminate auto-oxidation is by
adding various antioxidants to the resin. Antioxidants (A/O) are
a class of chemicals with varying chemical compositions and
methods of terminating auto-oxidation. The antioxidant
chemicals are additives for specific operation; other additives
are widely used for other polymer properties modifications.
Additives such as heat stabilizers, light stabilizers, slip agents,
plasticizers, and antioxidants represent some of the most
common classes of compounds used to tailor polymer
properties for specific applications. So, commercial final
polymer products should contain some types of additives, these
chemical additives may be reacting with some or all
environmental elements. For example; acid rains may react
with the antioxidant at the surface (etches the surface), and
hence the surface will be opened to the UV radiation attack, and
so on. Therefore, studying the effect of UV radiation on
polymer samples after wetting them in acid rain simulating
solution is very important step for evaluation the efficiency of
the used antioxidant. With the same logic, in order to examine
the chemical resistance of a polymer against acid rain, the
polymer sample should be exposed to UV radiation before the
examination.

328

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)

3. EXPERIMENTAL MEASURES:
The polymer used in the current study is
commercial polyethylene films that are
manufactured in Egypt for plants greenhouses
usage. Plasticizer, antioxidant, UV stabilizer, antistatic charging and slip agents are added to the used
PE films with unknown ratios. Film thickness is
0.08 mm
1- Sample treatments:
The commercial PE film was cut into small pieces each of
area equivalent to that of the A4 paper sheet. These pieces are
divided into four groups plus one piece that is taken as blank
sample (denoted later as fresh film) which is not treated at all.
Each group is subjected to a specific treatment as following:

First group: consists of 6 pieces, all pieces are

immersed in big basin filled with acid rain simulating solution.
After one week one piece is picked out the solution and washed
with the tap water and then left to dry in oven at about 40oC for
2 hours. After two weeks the second piece is drawn from the
basin and dried too, and so on for the rest of group samples.
Samples of this group are denoted as (AR 1-6). Exposure time
in acid rain is considered in units of week.

Second group: consists of 6 pieces, one piece is

irradiated by intensive UV radiation for one day and then drawn
out of radiation stream. The next piece is irradiated for two
days, and so on for the rest of this group samples. Samples of
this group are denoted as (UV 1-6). Exposure time in UV
radiation is considered in units of day.

Third group: consists of 6 pieces, one piece is

immersed in the acid rain solution for one week and dried, then
it is irradiated by same UV for one day. Second piece is
immersed in the acid rain solution for two weeks and then
irradiated by the UV radiation for two days, and so on for the
reset pieces of this group. Samples of this group are denoted as
(AR & UV 1-6).

Forth group: consists of 6 pieces, one is irradiated by

the same UV for one day and then immersed in the acid rain
solution for one week and dried. Second piece is irradiated by
the UV radiation for two days, and then immersed in the acid
rain solution for two weeks then dried, and so on for other
pieces of the group. Samples of this group are denoted as
(UV&AR 1-6).
2 The acid rain simulator
(Schulz, et al, 2000) showed that, the pHs of a real acid
rain even at the aggressive environments lied in the range of
3.5-4.5. Acid rain etches the acrylic polymer and strongly
damages the surface coating [11]. Another authors said that
acid rain is formed when the pH of rain water is below 5.6. As
the literature does not provide any exact specification for the

www.ijsea.com

chemical content of the acid rain, it is usually assumed to be the

mixture of sulphuric acid and nitric acid of pH 4.3 4.5 [12].
Therefore a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids of pH 3.6 was
prepared and used in this work as acid rain simulator to
represent the aggressive acid rain that is normally
characterizing industrial zones and around classical power
stations. The pH values were measured by a digital pH-meter
model 350 from Jenway Co, with glass probe.
3 UV source
The used UV radiation source containing three germicidal UV
lamps from General Electric Co., model G15T8, 436 mm
length, 25.5 mm diameter, 15 W radiation powers and 254 nm
characteristic wavelength for 10,000 average useful life. The
distance between the light source lamps and samples is (15 cm).
Each sample is exposed to this radiation for different periods
ranged from 1 to 6 days, continuously.
4 Infrared spectrophotometer
Infrared spectroscopy is a versatile experimental technique and
it is relatively easy to obtain spectra from samples in solution
or in the liquid, solid or gaseous states. The first dispersive
infrared instruments employed prisms made of non-absorbing
materials for IR-wavelengths such as sodium chloride. The
popularity of prism instruments fell away in the 1960s when
the improved technology of grating construction enabled
cheap, good quality gratings to be manufactured [13]. In the
present work, an instrument model NICOLET- IS10 from
Thermo Scientific Co., USA is used. Polymer samples from
each sample group were examined after exposure to the
selected treatment for detecting the molecular changes, if any.
5 X Ray diffraction measurements
X - ray diffraction is a powerful tool for the identification
of the crystallization state of solids. The crystallization state
includes degree of crystallization, crystal size, crystals type,
rate of crystallization and crystal distribution as special case.
The X-ray diffraction charts may provide well information
about the macro-molecular orientations. The mean orientation
factors (k) may be calculated as the ratio between intensity of
crystalline maxima for samples treated and untreated analogues
[14]. The x-ray tube that used in the present work was adjusted
at the following measurement conditions: Cu target, voltage of
40 kV at 30 mA. (Shimadzu6000, Japan).
6 Thermal analysis
Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) technique is
widely used to investigate the properties of polymers upon
heating on certain range at specific rate. Melting and
crystallization are examples of phase transitions of the first
order. This means a transition where the heat capacity as a
function of time and temperature exhibits a discontinuity,
which has the shape of a peak. The area under the peak in the
thermo-gram is directly proportional to the energy that is
emitted or absorbed during changes of state in the sample. The
highest point in the peak reflects the temperature or time when

329

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)
the largest part of a sample is melting or crystallizing or when
a polymerization or curing reaction occurs at its highest rate.
Differential thermal analysis (DTA) is also used when the
melting point is the task. DTA is excellent technique for the
determination of melting temperature of crystalline polymers,
where the sharpness of melting peak can represent the degree
of crystallinity. Therefore this technique is in-efficient in the
case of amorphous (glassy) polymers.
In the present work, the Shimadzu50 (Japan), instrument was
used in atmosphere of nitrogen and gas flow of 20 ml/min for
sample of weight 10 mg in aluminium pan.
7 - Mechanical Stress Strain Characterization

Through the first look it is clear that no serious chemical

changes have been occurred, which is expected due to the high
chemical resistance of PE. A careful evaluation of the spectrum
one deduces the etching effect of the acid rain where the PE
sample surface became smoother and may be thinner. This is
clear from the increasing in contrast of transmitted interference
fringes due multi-reflections between the parallel surfaces of
the sample as shown in figure 4. The greatest etching effect
takes place during the first week, which means that the
functional additives used in this commercial PE are acid
reactive.

There are three factors determine whether a polymer is

glassy, rubbery or fibre-forming under a given set of
conditions. These are the chain flexibility, the chain interattraction and the regularity of the polymer. The relationship
has been expressed diagrammatically by Swallow [15]. Failure
of polymers in certain applications to carry design loads or
occasional accidental overloads may be due to excessive plastic
deformation resulting from the inadequate strength properties
of the polymer. For the quantification of such failures, the
mechanical property of primary interest is the yield strength
and the corresponding strain. The ultimate strength, along with
the associated strain, also provides useful information [16].
The machine used to measure the recent mechanical properties
is Zwick Tensometer Z010, Germany, with calibrated load cell
at temperature of 23+ 0.2oC and R.H. of 45 + 5 %.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

When a material (say polymer) is attacked by acid, the first
expectation is occurrence of a chemical reaction. The easier
technique to investigate any chemical changes in a material is
the IR-spectroscopic analysis. Therefore, PE samples that are
subjected to the acid rain (AR) were tested; figure 3 shows the
transmittance percent of the AR- group samples.

Figure (4): The etching effect of acid rain on the surface

optical propertiesof commercial PE samples.
Also, due to the known oxidative degradation of polymers by
UV irradiation, it is expected to observe some oxygen bonds
in the structure of PE. The IR-spectrum of UV irradiated PE
shows that bond at 1720 cm-1, as shown in figure 5.

Figure (3): IR Transmission spectrum of PE samples

subjected to acid rainsolution for different periods ranged
from 1 to 6 weeks.

www.ijsea.com

330

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)
The behaviour shown in figure 6 illustrates that acid rains have
reacted and removed the UV stabilizer, then the polymer
molecular system became unprotected against UV radiation,
and hence when UV radiation attacks the polymer after the acid
rains it could to degrade the polymer seriously.
That previous discussion shows the great advantage of studying
the effect of successive exposure to environmental elements
over the individual studies of each element.
Sequenced effects of environmental elements on polymer
materials are not enclosed in the polymer degradation by
chemical reactions but these effects are extended to the
morphological structure of the polymer molecular system too.

Figure (5): The appearance of C=O bond in the UV-irradiated

PE structureafter 3 days of continuous irradiation.

X-ray diffraction technique is among the best methods of

evaluating morphology of solid objects. Figure 7 represents the
effect of acid rain and UV radiation on the used commercial PE
films, individually. The graph shows that exposing PE films to
acid rain for 6 weeks induced crystalline enhancement
equivalent to that induced by UV irradiation for 6 days. There
is no new crystalline structures are observed.

From figure 5 it is clear that the added UV stabilizer is of

medium efficiency since it could withstand the intense UV
radiation along three days, but after 5 days the efficiency of this
stabilizer failed. Figure 6 shows that the added UV stabilizer in
the used commercial PE samples was among the chemicals that
are removed during the etching effect of the acid rain. The red
curve on figure 6 represents the strong existence of the oxide
bond (23% on the transmittance scale) by the UV irradiation
after the acid rain etching, while the blue curve represents the
weak oxidation bond (8% on the transmittance scale) by UV
radiation before the etching by acid rain.

Figure (7): The maximum changes in crystalline state of PE

due to acid rain and UV radiation individually.

Figure 8 shows the etching effect of the acid rains on the

morphology of PE films; where after etching, the UV could to
penetrate the sample with higher intensity and causes more
crystalline enhancement.

Figure (6): The effect of acid rain etching on the oxidation of

PEby UV radiation.

www.ijsea.com

331

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)

It is clear from figure 9 that when acid rain attack follows the
UV attack, its effect on the crystalline state of PE sample is
very limited. Comparing graphs in figures 8 and 9 with graphs
in figure 7, one deduces that the most of morphological
variations by acid rain and UV radiation are tack place within
the first day of UV and the first week of acid rain exposure
times.
It is well known that any variations in the morphological state
of a material should show reflections on the thermal properties
as well as the mechanical properties of that material. For a
single material, there are several thermal properties. The DTA
thermo-gram provides information about two different
parameters simultaneously, namely; melting point (at the sharp
tip of the melting peak) and the relative amount of the present
crystalline phase (as the length of the melting peak).

Figure (8): The effect of the etching by the acid rain on the
crystalline state of PE films.
From figure 8, it is noted that one week for the sample in acid
rain caused limited enhancement in the crystalline state of the
polymer sample, but if this sample is subjected to UV radiation
after acid rain, the crystalline state of sample material possesses
a great enhancement. Figure 9 shows the same effects as
discussed above but for reversed sequence.

Figure (10): DTA thermo-gram of PE film sample exposed to

acid rain and UV radiation in different sequences.

Figure (9): Successive effect of UV radiation and acid rain on

the crystalline state of PE films.

www.ijsea.com

Figure 10 shows that the melting point of PE is 115oC and

neither the acid rain nor the UV irradiation has changed this
value. This result is confirmed from figures 7 to 9, where the
crystals type not changed and no new crystalline phase has been
formed due to the external effects. It is noted from figure 10
also that the melting peak of the samples, which exposed to acid
rain and UV radiation, are somewhat longer due to the increase
of the crystalline amount in the sample by the UV radiation and
acid rain. The selected exposure time for both acid rain and UV
radiation show limited observable changes in the length of
melting peaks (as shown in figure 11), which in contrast with
the observable peak changes in the X-ray diffraction patterns.

332

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)

Time
interval

UV

AR

AR
UV
then
then
UV
AR
0
960
960
960
960
1
980
960
870
825
2
780
840
380
625
3
630
880
290
520
4
590
780
75
220
5
135
780
75
123
6
75
890
74
80
NOTES: 1- AR = exposure to acid rain,
2- UV = exposure to ultra violet radiation
3- time intervals are in units of
weeks for AR and in days for UV
Table (3): The elastic modulus in MPa

Figure (11): Limited changes in the length of melting peaks

through the range of exposure time to acid rain and UV
radiation.
Mechanical properties of the PE samples show variations due
to the exposure to acid rain and UV radiation, too. Tables (13) concluded the observed changes during the tensile test of all
samples.

Table (1): The percentage elongation at the yield point

Time
UV
AR
AR then
UV then
interval
UV
AR
0
12
12
12
12
1
9.2
12
7.3
10.9
2
10.7
9.2
5.7
9.0
3
5.7
8.9
7.0
6.6
4
5.7
8.75
3.3
4.6
5
6.6
8.8
3.3
3.9
6
3.6
9.4
3.9
3.3
NOTES: 1- AR = exposure to acid rain, 2- UV =
exposure to ultra violet radiation
3- time intervals are in units of weeks for AR and in days
for UV

Table (2): The percentage elongation at the breaking

Of course, all of the observed variations in the mechanical

parameters of PE films should be related to formation of the
strong C=O as well as the dramatic increase for the amount of
crystalline phase by exposure to acid rain followed by UV
irradiation. The increase in the crystalline phase makes the
material more brittle and hence less ductility, which is clear
from the continuous decrease in all tensile parameters. The
effect of etching by acid rain appears in the fast and great
downfall of the percentage elongation at breaking of the
samples (AR then UV) in table (2). This set of tables shows that
acid rain alone did not affect the mechanical properties of PE
seriously, which supports the high chemical resistance of the
PE. These tables show also that the used UV-stabilizer in the
commercial PE samples under tests is of medium efficiency,
where sample`s mechanical properties resisted UV radiation
for maximum 3 days and then downfall.
As mentioned above, the observed variations in the mechanical
parameters are symptoms of two factors, which are the
formation of C=O bonds (or oxidation) and the increase of
crystalline phase. The question arises here is, how one can
identify the share or responsibility of each factor in the
observed variations? The answer may be found in the rate of
changes. As seen in figure 5, the oxidation of PE increases
gradually as time increases, this behaviour is coincident with
that shown in table 2 for the UV coulomb. Thus one may
consider that the variation of percentage elongation at break
belongs to the oxidation progress in PE. On the other side,
figure 8 shows that most of the crystalline phase enhancements
are occurred during the beginning of the action periods, which
is coincident with data changes in table 1 for (AR then UV)
coulomb, where data changed suddenly after the first time step.
Thus one may consider that the variation of percentage
elongation at the yield point belongs to the change in size of the
crystalline phase.
Generally, in the current case, the rate of oxidative degradation
(by UV radiation) is proportional to the rate of changing the

www.ijsea.com

333

International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications

Volume 4 Issue 5, 2015, ISSN-2319-7560 (Online)
percentage elongation at breaking and the rate of crystalline
phase enhancement is proportional to the rate of changing the
percentage elongation at the yield point through the tensile test.

5. CONCLUSION
Utilization of polymer products for outdoor applications is
continuously increasing. So the stability of polymers against
environmental degradation became top of interests for many
researchers. The acid rains, UV radiation and heat are the most
degrading environmental elements. The effect of these
elements on the polymers stability has been studied, but
individually. The authors of the current work clam that
solutions derived from these individual studies are of limited
efficiency, because of their conflicts. The current study clarifies
a type of these conflicts. The traditional solution for the UV
degradation of polymers is to add certain organic chemical
additive to increase the polymer resistance for the UV
degradation. Acid rains may react with these chemical
additives and restricts their activity against UV radiation, and
hence the polymer article becomes unprotected against UV.
This work shows that successive exposure to acid rain and UV
radiation can minimize the efficiency of some chemical
additives. It is better to study effects of all environmental
elements in sequenced manner and all collected data should be
analysed at once. By this suggested researching regime, a
unique high efficient solution can be established. It is found that
acid rains have etching effect on the polymer surfaces. Acid
rains alone caused no serious degradation, which is due to the
high chemical resistance of the used PE polymer. Other
polymers, say glassy polymers, may not resist the acid rains
attack. Major effects of acid rains are occurred within the first
week, longer exposure time to acid rain causes minor effects.
In contrast, degradation effects by UV radiation are extended
as long as the radiation attacks the polymer until full
degradation of the polymer. So, it is recommended, after this
study, to prevent accumulation of acid rains on the polymer
films for long time.

[6] - Schnabel W., Polymer Degradation; Principles and

Applications, [Macmillan, New York] (1981)
[7]- Reich L., Stivala S.S., Elements of Polymer Degradation,
McGraw-Hill Book Company, (1971)
[8] Peacock A. J., The chemistry of polyethylene, Journal
of Macromolecular Science, Part C: Polymer Reviews, vol.
41(4), pp. 285-323 (2001).
[9] Feldman D., Polymer weathering: Photo-oxidation,
Journal of Polymers and the Environment, vol. 10, pp. 163-173
(2002).
[10] Ranby B. and Rabek J. F., Photodegradation, photooxidation and photo- stabilization of polymers, [John Wiley &
Sons, London, UK] (1975).
[11] Schulz, U.; Trubiroha, P.; Schernau, U.; Baumgart, H.,
J.Progress in Organic Coatings, vol. 40, pp. 151165, (2000)
[12] CHEMIK, vol. 66, 4, 315-320, (2012).
[13] Stuart B., Infrared Spectroscopy: Fundamentals and
Applications, (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, New York, London,
ISBN: 0-470-85427-8) (2004).
[14] Antnio R., Guerreiro, Vadim Korkhov, Irene
Mijangos, V. Elena, Piletska, Juris Rodins , Anthony Turner,
P. F. and Sergey A. Piletsky., J. Biosensors
and Bioelectronics, vol. 23. Issue 7, pp. 1189 1194, ISSN
0956-5663,(2008).
[15] - SWALLOW C., J. Roy. Soc. Arts, vol. 99, pp. 355
(1951).
[16] Robert O. Ebewele, Polymer Science and Technology
, (CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton and New York) Chapter 13,
(2000).

6. REFERENCES
[1] - Rabek J.F., Comprehensive Chemical Kinetics, Vol. 1,
Degradation of Polymers, Ed. C. H. Bamford, C. H. F. Tipper,
[Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam] (1975)
[2] - Bamford C.H., Tipper C.H.F. (eds.), Comprehensive
Chemical Kinetics, Vol. 14, Degradation of Polymers,
[Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam] (1975)
[3] - Jellinek H.H.G. (ed.), Aspects of Degradation and
Stabilization of Polymers, [Elsevier Scientific Publishing
Company, Amsterdam] (1978).
[4] - Allen N.S. (ed.), Degradation and Stabilization of
Polyolefins, [Applied Science Publishers Ltd., London and
New York] (1983)
[5]- Scott G. (ed.) "Atmospheric Oxidation and Antioxidants"
Vol. I, [Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam] (1993)

www.ijsea.com

334